Virtuosi: A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists

In the literature on piano virtuosos, this is something new. In entertaining essays rich with anecdote, the author peers into the many domains of virtuoso lore. These include the odd practice habits of the greats, child prodigies, encores, seating arrangements, portrayals of virtuosos in literature and on film, and the erotics of musical performance. The artistic merit of performers with superior technique has almost ipso facto been called into question. Mitchell launches a counterattack. Heightening the literary character of the volume, the author includes a few short pieces on, for example, the genesis of his obsession with the piano and its champions, the particularities of concert-going in Italy (where he now lives), and road trips to hear the titans perform. With its personal tone, it wit and its wealth of entertaining (and enlightening) trivia on the famous and the obscure, this book addresses itself to the lover of serious music. "Virtuosi" features equally intriguing illustrations: rare portraits of long-forgotten female prodigies, historic concert programmes and concert announcements, and still images from a now-lost 1927 film drama about Beethoven.

Table of Contents:
Preliminary The Less Fractious World 1. The Triumph of Marsyas 2. "Le concert, c'est moi" 3. The Critic and the Spider After Two Concerts 4. Notes on Gourmandism 5. The Circus 6. The Nature of the Bis 7. "The Colour of Classics" Of Paris 8. Some Virtuosi in Literature 9. The Virtuoso at Home 10. Possibilities of a Homosexual Aesthetic of Virtuosity 11. Celluloid 12. "The pianola 'replaces' Sappho's barbitos" 13. Musical Chairs; or, Il virtuoso seduto 14. "Aut Caesar, aut nihil" Aristocracy 15. Muscles and Soul 16. Mephistopheleses in Soutanes The Angel of the Mud Bibliography

About the Author :
Mark Mitchell is the author of Virtuosi and Vladimir de Pachmann both published by Indiana University Press. He is the recipient of a John Simon guggenheim Fellowship for 2006-2007.

Review :
"A literary work of real elan, vibrancy, and grace." - Cynthia Ozick "Vigorous, opinionated, and always entertaining ... a personal essayist of great charm and sincerity." - Edmund White "Other subjects that Mr. Mitchell explores include the traditional linking of musical and sexual virtuosity, the ethical implications of the 'original instruments' movement, the near deification of Mozart in Anglo-Saxon culture, and, in a particularly witty section, the relationship of the virtuoso to his stool. Throughout, Mr. Mitchell's prose is humorous, intimate, and unapologeticaly polemical." - Cynthia Ozick "This excitingly partisan book takes up such subjects as child prodigies, the homosexual aesthetic, the pre-eminence of Schumann, the continuing development of the piano as mechanism, the significance of player piano rolls, and the presentation of virtuoso music in film and literature. Mitchell's erudition - his collection of odd and illuminating bits of knowledge - is always a delight and adds a sauce piquante to the whole dish!" - Edmund White